1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an internal storage shield for covering a partially filled food container, and more specifically to an internal transparent shield for covering a partially filled frozen ice cream storage container.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of packaged ice cream, there are many different types of sophisticated packaging devices for preserving the ice cream in the container after the package has been initially opened by the end user. Most edible foods age very quickly when exposed to air. Ice cream begins to especially deteriorate rapidly and is adversely affected after the container is opened. When the partially filled container is refrozen, the air remaining in the container begins the process of the formation of ice crystals, which process changes the taste and the fragrance of the ice cream.
Various solutions to this problem are disclosed in the prior art. One solution is to manually place a cover or lid within the container to cover the remaining contents, which may be food, tobacco, and the like. As shown by the following prior art patents, storage shields for covering the exposed content surface in a partially filled container are broadly well known in the prior art.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,145,915, issued Jan. 5, 1965 to Isaac J. Marcuse, 3,164,289 issued to Thomas A. Cocchiarella, 3,784,051 issued Jan. 8, 1974 to James A. C. Shaw, et al., 4,413,747 issued Nov. 8, 1983 to Tyrus N. Tenold, et al., 4,684,042 issued Aug. 4, 1987 to James E. Strickler, et al., 4,723,674 to Morris A. Nunes, and 5,213,230 to Dean Kral disclose the concept of removing some of the contents from a container and placing a shield on the remaining contents to protect the contents.
Many of the prior art lid devices strive to provide completely air tight and sealed containers. Consequently the ice cream is sometimes packaged in a hermetically sealed container. After the seal is broken and restored, a relatively large quantity of air may remain in the partially filled container. Thus, the ice cream commences to age whether or not the seal is restored.
Further, the prior art discloses lid devices that use various types of gaskets on their outer edges for sealing purposes. These prior art devices perform well for dry and liquid products, but are impractical for frozen products. One reason being that the gasketing is in tight contact with the side walls and, as a result, the gasketing will freeze to the side walls. Many times the removal of a lid device from a container will damage the gasketing which is frozen to the side walls of the container or will damage the container itself.
As will be seen, none of the above cited patents, taken alone or in combination, disclose the invention described below and in appended claims.